Statute

Statutory Authority for SBIR & STTR Reporting and Recordkeeping Requirements

15 U.S.C. Sec. 638

(k) DATABASE.—

Public database.

(1) PUBLIC DATABASE.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of the Small Business Innovation Research Program Reauthorization Act of 2000, the Administrator shall develop, maintain, and make available to the public a searchable, up-to-date, electronic database that includes—

(A) the name, size, location, and an identifying number assigned by the Administrator, of each small business concern that has received a Phase I or Phase II SBIR or STTR¹award from a Federal agency;

(B) a description of each Phase I or Phase II SBIR or STTR award received by that small business concern, including—

(i) an abstract of the project funded by the award, excluding any proprietary information so identified by the small business concern;

(ii) the Federal agency making the award; and

(iii) the date and amount of the award;

(C) an identification of any business concern or subsidiary established for the commercial application of a product or service for which an SBIR or STTR award is made;

(D) information regarding mentors and Mentoring Networks, as required by section 35(d);

(E) with respect to assistance under the STTR program only—

(i) whether the small business concern or the research institution initiated their collaboration on each assisted STTR project;

(ii) whether the small business concern or the research institution originated any technology relating to the assisted STTR project;

(iii) the length of time it took to negotiate any licensing agreement between the small business concern and the research institution under each assisted STTR project; and

(iv) how the proceeds from commercialization, marketing, or sale of technology resulting from each assisted STTR project were allocated (by percentage) between the small business concern and the research institution; and

(F) for each small business concern that has received a Phase I or Phase II SBIR or STTR award from a Federal agency, whether the small business concern—

(i) has venture capital, hedge fund, or private equity firm investment and, if so, whether the small business concern is registered as majority-owned by multiple venture capital operating companies, hedge funds, or private equity firms as required under subsection (dd)(3);

(ii) is owned by a woman or has a woman as a principal investigator [sic, should probably be “investor”];

(iii) is owned by a socially or economically disadvantaged individual or has a socially or economically disadvantaged individual as a principal investigator [sic, should probably be “investor”];

(iv) is owned by a faculty member or a student of an institution of higher education, as that term is defined in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001); or

(v) received assistance under the Federal and State Technology Partnership Program (FAST Program).

Government database.

(2) GOVERNMENT DATABASE.—Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act of 2011,² the Administrator, in consultation with Federal agencies required to have an SBIR program pursuant to subsection (f)(1) or an STTR program pursuant to subsection (n)(1)³, shall develop and maintain a database to be used exclusively for SBIR and STTR program evaluation that—

(A)⁴ contains for each small business concern that applies for, submits a proposal for, or receives an award under Phase I or Phase II of the SBIR program or the STTR program—

(i) the name, size, and location of, and the identifying number assigned by the Administration to, the small business concern;

(ii) an abstract of the applicable project;

(iii) the specific aims of the project;

(iv) the number of employees of the small business concern;

(v) the names and titles of the key individuals that will carry out the project, the position each key individual holds in the small business concern, and contact information for each key individual;

(vi) the percentage of effort each individual described in clause (v) will contribute to the project;

(vii) whether the small business concern is majority-owned by multiple venture capital operating companies, hedge funds, or private equity firms; and

(viii) the Federal agency to which the application is made and contact information for the person or office within the Federal agency that is responsible for reviewing applications and making awards under the SBIR program or the STTR program;

(B)⁵ contains for each Phase II award made by a Federal agency—

(i) information collected in accordance with paragraph (3) on revenue from the sale of new products or services resulting from the research conducted under the award;

(ii) information collected in accordance with paragraph (3) on additional investment from any source, other than Phase I or Phase II SBIR or STTR awards, to further the research and development conducted under the award; and

(iii) any other information received in connection with the award that the Administrator, in conjunction with the SBIR and STTR program managers of Federal agencies, considers relevant and appropriate;

(C)⁶ includes any narrative information that a small business concern receiving a second phase award voluntarily submits to further describe the outputs and outcomes of its awards;

(D)⁷ includes, for each awardee—

(i) the name, size, and location of, and any identifying number assigned by the Administrator to, the awardee;

(ii) whether the awardee has venture capital, hedge fund, or private equity firm investment and, if so—

(I) the amount of venture capital, hedge fund, or private equity firm investment as of the date of the award;

(II) the percentage of ownership of the awardee held by a venture capital operating company, hedge fund, or private equity firm, including whether the awardee is majority-owned by multiple venture capital operating companies, hedge funds, or private equity firms; and

(III) the amount of additional capital that the awardee has invested in the SBIR or STTR technology, which information shall be collected on an annual basis;

(iii) the names and locations of any affiliates of the awardee;

(iv) the number of employees of the awardee;

(v) the number of employees of the affiliates of the awardee; and

(vi) the names of, and the percentage of ownership of the awardee held by—

(I) any individual who is not a citizen of the United States or a lawful permanent resident of the United States; or

(II) any person that is not an individual and is not organized under the laws of a State or the United States;

(E)⁸ includes any other data collected by or available to any Federal agency that such agency considers may be useful for SBIR or STTR program evaluation;

(F) is available for use solely for program evaluation purposes by the Federal Government or, in accordance with policy directives issued by the Administration, by other authorized persons who are subject to a use and nondisclosure agreement with the Federal Government covering the use of the database; and

(G)⁹ includes a timely and accurate list of any individual or small business concern that has participated in the SBIR program or STTR program that has been—

§ 9(k)(2)(G)(i) to

§ 9(l)

(i) convicted of a fraud-related crime involving funding received under the SBIR program or STTR program; or

(ii) found civilly liable for a fraud-related violation involving funding received under the SBIR program or STTR program.

(3) UPDATING INFORMATION FOR DATABASE.—

(A) IN GENERAL.—A small business concern applying for a Phase II award under this section shall be required to update information in the database established under this subsection for any prior Phase II award received by that small business concern. In complying with this paragraph, a small business concern may apportion sales or additional investment information relating to more than one Phase II award among those awards, if it notes the apportionment for each award.

(B) ANNUAL UPDATES UPON TERMINATION.—A small business concern receiving a Phase II award under this section shall—

(i) update information in the database concerning that award at the termination of the award period; and

(ii) be requested to voluntarily update such information annually thereafter for a period of 5 years.

(C)¹⁰ GOVERNMENT DATABASE.—Not later than 60 days after the date established by a Federal agency for submitting applications or proposals for a Phase I or Phase II award under the SBIR program or STTR program, the head of the Federal agency shall submit to the Administrator the data required under paragraph (2) with respect to each small business concern that applies or submits a proposal for the Phase I or Phase II award.

(4) PROTECTION OF INFORMATION.—Information provided under paragraph (2) shall be considered privileged and confidential and not subject to disclosure pursuant to section 552 of title 5, Untied States Code.

[35 USC 102].

(5) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Inclusion of information in the database under this subsection shall not be considered to be publication for purposes of subsection (a) or (b) of section 102 of title 35, United States Code.

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